Greek Yogurt? YES!

I have a new obsession for the Fage brand of Greek yogurt.  It's got the greatest consistency and is not sugary.  I love it with a little honey and a fresh banana or blueberries, it's really filling too which is great.  I have a yogurt maker so I thought I would give making Greek yogurt a try.  I cruised through a few other blogs and some cooking web sites to try to figure out what the difference is between Greek and other types of yogurt.  I reviewed the ingredient list on the Fage 2% yogurt container as well.  One major difference is that Greek yogurt is strained and the additional liquid (whey) is removed giving it a fuller body and creamier taste even it a lower fat milk is used.  I also noticed that Fage uses 2% milk and cream.  I have worked in enough restaurants and known the chefs of said places to know that fat in food is GOOD, it gives it flavor and fullness.  I did not skimp, I eat well and portion my food so that should I want to indulge in something like cream in my yogurt I can and I will completely appreciate the full deliciousness.  Here is the recipe I used:

Makes 1 Qt.
2 cups 2% milk
2 cups heavy cream
yogurt culture
1tsp alcohol free almond extract


I use "yogourmet" yogurt culture, some people prefer to use yogurt from a previous batch or from the store, I found the below website to be very informative regarding different types of yogurts and the yogurt cultures.



http://www.101cookbooks.com/archives/000176.html


Yesterday I followed the normal procedure, boiling the milk/cream then cooling it down to the appropriate temp to add the cultures and the almond extract, stirring and pouring into the yogurt cups (I have a donvier machine) I will be switching to a different type of machine because I hate having all the little cups to mess around with all the time.  I let my yogurt set for 12 hours then refrigerated it overnight.  

This morning I set up a stainless steel bowl, colander and coffee filter and put 3 of the 6 yogurts in the filter to start the straining process.  I did not re-refrigerate it, I read that it separates better at room temperature, it's been straining for 7 hours and looks great, the yogurt is a little bitter tasting and did not have an almond flavor at all, I think I will incubate it for a shorter period of time (I heard that makes a difference so I will try it).  I will refrigerate it overnight while still straining it and then do a side by side comparison of the Fage and my City Mouse yogurt!


Oh! I can't wait, I love experiments!!!


Until then.......
~CM

Indoor Gardening

Well our indoor gardening system has exploded with greens!  We originally planted 2 types of basil, mint, chives, thyme, dill and parsley.  We swapped out the dill and parsley for some micro-greens and everything is growing quite well.  A couple of notes on this growing system. 
1. the front plants will grow faster than the back plants so we moved things around to have some equal opportunity growing. 
2. there are "nutrient tablets" that some with this, we tried to grow our plants without using them, but they would not grow with water and grow lights alone.  After speaking with some people who seemed to have some pretty decent plant knowledge it was decided that the tablets may not kill us and without them our little plants would not survive.


The system is actually quite easy to clean which I was not too sure about but for the micro greens I am not sure if enough would grow out of the two pods that we have set up now, I would not want to dedicate the whole planter to micro greens however so we will just have to see what works best. 


Over the weekend I used some of the basil to make a home made pasta sauce, when I cut the basil it smelled GREAT! Really appetizing and basily,  it was great in the sauce.  We are planning on making spring rolls and using the mint for that meal, the mint is kind of going everywhere at the moment, if it gets much bigger I will also make a nice mint iced tea with it.


All in all this growing system has been successful and a good purchase for us, I think that it will be great to have fresh herbs and greens throughout the winter, that is generally when I need them more for sauces and soups and they are either scarce or over priced.


Well until next time.
~A very herby CM

Lip balm, lotion and soap, oh my!

I have been a very busy little mouse the past couple of days. Yesterday I got up and made a batch of almond lip balm. I even have the cute little lip balm tubes (very professional of me)! It turned out great! There are a couple of consistencies I need to figure out in order to make it the right hardness / silkiness etc. It may be a matter of packaging it into a different container to make this particular recipe work well. This is an extremely moisturizing lip balm, but it's a little bit mushy and I left a tub of it in our warm bedroom this morning and it kind of melted a little bit. Something that I think can be changed with a little tweaking. I will try to use the hand blender next time, I think that if it had been mixed a little longer at a more brisk pace it would have had a more consistent texture. Even though I added almond flavoring, it did not come through, the raw honey overpowered all the other flavors, next time I will make a batch without honey to see if the almond flavoring comes through then.

This morning I made a small batch of lotion (5 ounces total). It turned out great. I made it with unrefined, virgin coconut oil and it just completely reminds me of summer! I mixed it well with the hand blender and bottled it into 1 oz bottles. The consistency is great, creamy, luxurious and extremely moisturizing! When I first put it into the little bottles if looked like it was trying to separate, I shook all of the bottles really well and put 2 into the fridge, 2 in the freezer and left one out to see if temperature made them set up differently, I did not notice that one set better than the other. Over all I am happy with this product.

After that I prepped the kitchen to make some cold process soap. I admit I was a little nervous to be handling chemicals and Mr. Mouse assisted me in this little experiment. Really I think he was trying to assure that I would not cause an explosion which would leave us homeless and me without eyebrows. It was great to have an extra set of hands and eyes. I made a very simple 1lb batch which did not have any additional essential oils, colors or preservatives in it, I wanted to reduce the chance of outside variables. I read through a couple of books prior to doing this and the recipe I used is in "The Everything Soapmaking Book" by Alicia Grosso, this book is a great tool, I recommend it for anyone who is interested. My soap has to set up for 2 days, then I can release it from the molds and cut it. At that point it will be another 4 weeks before it is mild enough to use. Oh! I hate waiting! But I am very excited to see what the outcome will be. As for the actual making of the soap, we got through it without any major problems or accidents. I almost lost a finger but it was my fault, I forgot to unplug the hand blender before trying to get the extra soap batter out. (shame on me!)

Ok, well I must get my products out to my ever helpful and willing "lab mouses" to see what they all think. More on that later.

~CM

Lotion Update

Well I let the lotion cool overnight but it is still pretty runny. I am sure it could moisturize on a dry winter day and probably feel nice to cracked skin but any other time it would leave the skin feeling oily and the user feeling disappointed. If you were planing a get away, it may come in handy in helping with an escape. Oh well, I am heading out into the great wild Brooklyn outdoors today in search of real bees wax and to do some more experimentation. I have been keeping notes for each attempt, some books I have ready suggested this so that I can mix and match to see what works best. Once I have something that seems usable I will be shipping the products off to my 'lil sis who has dubbed herself "lab mouse" as she is very well versed in beauty products and always excited to try new ones.

Until then.
~CM

QUEST????

So perhaps my quest is not for honest foods, perhaps it's just a quest for honesty.

In addition to eating healthy I have decided that what I apply to my body is just as important as what I put inside it. Think about it we are putting products next to some very sensitive areas. Deodorant is applied next to lymph nodes and who knows what is in there that may cause damage over long term use. Maybe Europeans got it right when they decided that stinky was best. Skin is the largest organ on our bodies, I have decided to pay a little more attention to mine and see what positive changes I can make for it. Now, I am not made of money, I do not prefer to be stinky and I don't believe that just because something says it is natural that it is the best choice. I am a discriminating shopper, very discriminating.

Today I did two experiments which one came out much better that I thought it would and the other is still setting up so I can't say for sure yet. Today I made lip moisturizer and I just finished my first batch of lotion which I am waiting to see how it comes out. The lip moisturizer came out SO SILKY AND SMOOTH!!!! I love it! It's totally nekked! No unnatural nothin' and even Mr. Mouse, who hates lip moisturizer with a purple passion, was very positive about it's attributes and "feel". It goes on really smooth and soaks into my lips fast leaving them soft and delicious!

OH! This is fun, I love trying new things and seeing how they work out and what changes can be made to improve the quality of what I have created. I can't wait to try the lotion, more on that tomorrow. I have also ordered supplies to make soap, as soon as everyhting comes in I will be tackling that little experiment then writing about my experiences.

Later
~CM